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Trenette with pesto


Trennete with pesto

Few ingredients and lots of flavor: here is a simple but effective description of a first course for all occasions, trenette with pesto.

Everyone knows pasta with pesto but when it comes to trenette the situation changes. This typically Ligurian pasta format is little known outside the borders of the region. Today there are very few pasta factories that still produce it, therefore the trenette are often replaced with similar formats such as linguine or bavette .

But when we talk about trenette with pesto we actually mean a more complex dish where the pasta is cooked together with green beans and potatoes and then everything is seasoned with the famous Ligurian sauce. The combination of flavors and textures of these three ingredients has no equal in gastronomy. If you add to this the speed of preparation, you have a noteworthy dish on your hands. Let's see how it prepares.

Genoese pesto
Genoese pesto

Ingredients

For the pesto

  • Fresh basil – 100 g
  • Garlic – 2 cloves
  • Pine nuts – 35 g
  • Parmigiano Reggiano – 70 g
  • Sardinian pecorino – 30 g
  • Coarse salt – 1 pinch
  • Extra virgin olive oil – 100 ml

For the little trains

  • Dried trenette (or linguine or bavette) – 320 g
  • Potatoes – 140 g
  • Green beans – 120 g
  • Coarse salt – to taste

Preparation

How to prepare the trenette with pesto recipe

1

First, peel the potatoes and cut them into 1cm cubes. Trim the green beans and, if you prefer them crunchier, leave them whole, otherwise cut them into 2cm pieces.

2

Bring a large pot full of salted water to the boil and add the vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes then add the pasta , continuing cooking for the time indicated on the package. The vegetables will have to cook for 15 minutes so if you use fresh pasta or pasta with different cooking times, adjust accordingly.

3

In the meantime, prepare the pesto . By now you know, tradition wants it to be made by hand and with a mortar but, since not everyone has one available, we will speed up the process with a kitchen mixer. Place the washed and dried basil inside, the garlic (if you like), parmesan and pecorino cheese , salt , pine nuts and oil . Furthermore, to prevent the heat of the blades from ruining the beautiful green color of the pesto, add an ice cube.

4

Blend until you obtain a homogeneous cream, more or less smooth according to your tastes. Then transfer it into a bowl and keep it aside for the moment.

5

Drain the pasta and vegetables and season them with the pesto without putting it on the heat . Serve immediately, garnished with fresh basil and parmesan if desired.

Trenette with pesto also appear in a Disney Pixar animated film set on the Ligurian Riviera, Luca. Here is a short video with the scene in which they appear and the steps to make the recipe.

This sumptuous condiment pairs very well with another type of pasta typical of Liguria, trofie .

What are trenettes?

When we talk about trenette we are referring to a long pasta shape similar to linguine and bavette but with an ovoid, elliptical section. Preparing them at home by giving them this characteristic shape is not possible and it is not even what tradition would like.

In fact, originally the trenette advantaged were prepared, fresh egg pasta so called because the white flour was "advantaged" with the cheaper wholemeal flour. The result was a rustic pasta with an ideal consistency for collecting the seasoning.

Ingredients for the advantageous trenette:

  • 150 g of 00 flour
  • 150 g of wholemeal flour
  • 2 eggs
  • Water to taste

First mix the two flours and salt. Make a well in the center and break the eggs into it. Start kneading first with a fork and then by hand, adding water as necessary. You should obtain a firm consistency, smooth but easy to work with. Once you have obtained a dough, cover it with the bowl upside down and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Using a rolling pin or pasta machine, roll it out until it is as thin as possible. Help yourself in this phase with some semolina to prevent it from sticking to the pastry board. Then roll it up on itself and with a knife cut the trenette (as is usually done with tagliatelle) giving it a thickness varying from 3 to 5 mm. The knife cut makes this pasta shape unique.

A variant of the advantaged trenette involves the use of chestnut flour in addition to wholemeal and white flour. This results in a pasta that goes well with another typical condiment of the region, walnut pesto .

Conservation

The trenette with pesto can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Read also
The best recipes and typical dishes from Liguria (and Sanremo).

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